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Bhujapidasana

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Yoga Techniques and Fitness

Overview

In this lesson, we present Bhujapidasana, an arm balance that flexes and adducts the hips while the legs squeeze around the arms for stability.

Objective

Become familiar with how to create locks or bandhas at the contact points between the legs and arms to support the pose.

What You'll Get

What You'll Get: This pose teaches you to use your legs as a locking mechanism. The thighs squeeze the arms, the ankles cross, and the whole structure supports your weight. You'll learn to balance strength with flexibility—pressing up through the arms while maintaining the hip flexion and lower back rounding needed to hold the form. For personal practice, it builds upper body and core strength while opening the hips and lower back. For professionals, it's a gateway pose to more advanced arm balances. You'll see how hip flexibility and shoulder stability work together, and you'll learn to spot students who lack the necessary range of motion or strength to access the pose safely.

Bhujapidasana has many similar joint actions to those found in Tittibhasana, except here the ankles are crossed and the knees are flexed.

BHUJAPIDASANA (13 MOVEMENTS)
7	SAPTA	Inhale, jump around hands, cross feet
8	ASTAU	Exhale, fold chin down
9	NAVA	Inhale, lift up
		Exhale, Bakasana
10	DASA	Inhale, lift up
11	EKĀDASA	Exhale, jump back, Chaturanga
12	DUADASA	Inhale, Upward-Facing Dog
13	TRAYODASA	Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog

Anatomy

Bhujapidasana has many similar joint actions to those found in Tittibhasana, except here the ankles are crossed and the knees are flexed. As with Tittibhasana, Kurmasana can be used to prepare the hips and back for the pose. Ideally, the legs are as high up as possible on the arms, with the weight of the body balanced over the hands. A great deal of flexibility must be attained in the lower back and gluteals to perform this posture. There should also be a sufficient external rotation of the hips (meaning the length of the internal rotators). Press up into the pose by straightening the elbows while squeezing the legs around the arms. The thighs form a bandha, or a “lock,” where they join with the arms. The contact point where the ankles cross forms another bandha. Attempting to pull the feet apart augments this lock, strengthening the abductors of the hips.

Alternatively, you can bend the knees and use the thighs and calves to squeeze the arms (while at the same time attempting to straighten the elbows).

BASIC JOINT POSITIONS

The hips flex and adduct.
The knees flex.
The ankles dorsiflex.
The feet evert.
The toes extend.
The trunk flexes.
The shoulders flex, adduct, and externally rotate.
The wrists extend.
The cervical spine extends.

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